ght they would cause you to love me
more."

But she answered that that was impossible, and scolded me very prettily
for thinking of such a thing.

And then came Master Timotheus back from reading prayers, and entered
the parlor, carrying a great folio in his hand and blinking at us
through his big spectacles. And when he saw me, he stopped and stared.

"Here is a visitor, father," said Rose. "Look closely at him--do you not
know him?"

But the good man, taking my hand in his own, did stare at me hard and
long ere he discovered me, and then he fell upon my neck and embraced me
heartily and wept with joy.

"Of a truth," said he, "I might have known that it was thee, Humphrey,
for two reasons. First, I have been of an uncommonly light-hearted
nature all this day, and did once detect myself in the act of singing a
merry song; and secondly, I saw on entering the parlor that Rose's face
was brighter than it hath been since last we saw thee."

Then he laid his hand on my head and blessed me, and thanked God for
sending me home again; and he shed more tears, and was fain to take off
his spectacles and polish them anew. And he would have had me sup with
them, but on hearing that I had not yet seen my uncle he bade me go to
him at once, so I said farewell for that time and took my way to the
manor.

CHAPTER XXI.

HOW THEY RANG THE BELLS AT BEECHCOT CHURCH.

As I walked across from the vicarage to the manor house, the moon came
out in the autumn evening sky and lighted the landscape with a
brightness that was little short of daylight. I stood for a few moments
at the vicarage gate admiring the prospect. Far away to the eastward
rose the Wolds, dark and unbroken, different indeed from the giant bulk
of Orizaba, but far more beautiful to me. Beneath them lay the village
of Beechcot, with its farmsteads and cottages casting black shadows upon
the moonlit meadow, and here and there a rushlight burning dimly in the
windows. I had kept that scene in my mind's eye many a time during my
recent tribulations, and had wondered if ever I should see it again.
Now that I did see it, it was far more beautiful than I had ever known
it or imagined it to be, for it meant home, and love, and peace after
much sorrow.

My path led me through the churchyard. There the moonlight fell bright
and clear on the silent mounds and ghostly tombstones. By the chancel I
paused for a moment to glance at the monument which Sir Thurstan had
lo